been one of the wonders which he knew only from legends.

And lo! Chamberlain de Praet was already announcing a lady--the Marquise
de Leria.

If Master Adrian had ever permitted himself to laugh in his master's
presence, it would certainly have happened this time, for the curtseying
old woman in velvet, silk, and plumes, whose visit his Majesty did not
refuse, was probably the last person for whose sake Charles endured the
satin shoe on his sensitive foot.

How oddly her round, catlike head, with its prominent cheek bones, and
the white wig combed high on the top, contrasted with the rouged, sunken
cheeks and eyebrows dyed coal black!

Adrian hastily calculated that she was not far from seventy. But how
tightly she laced, how erect was her bearing, how sweet the smile on her
sunken mouth! And how did her aged limbs, which must have lost their
flexibility long ago, accomplish with such faultless grace the low
curtseys, in which she almost touched the floor?

But the valet, who had grown gray in Charles's service, had witnessed
still more surprising things, and beheld the presence of royalty bestow
strength for performances which even now seemed incomprehensible. The
lame had leaped before his eyes, and feeble invalids had stood erect long
hours when the duties of the court, etiquette, the command of royalty,
compelled them to do so.

What a mistress in ruling herself the marquise had become during her long
service at the French and Netherland courts! for not a feature betrayed